Late Night Encounters
by spellwrite
Summary: Hermione...insomnia...and Draco Malfoy. What could possibly go wrong? Just a little fluff I decided to write.


**Late Night Encounters**

AN/ Just a little plot that wouldn't leave me alone. Remember...I love reviews. Just thought you should know hint hint.

Disclaimer: Really, not mine!

Hermione sighed loudly in annoyance. She couldn't sleep for the third night in a row and it was really starting to grate on her nerves, not to mention the drain in her energy over the past few days. It was at times like these when she was glad to have been made Head Girl. Had she been at home she would have gone for a walk to calm herself down and take her mind off her predicament. Fortunately, along with the responsibility that her status brought her, she also had many more privileges and while her class mates were not allowed out of their towers after a certain time - she was allowed in the corridors whenever she wanted.

It was for this reason that Hermione found herself unworried as she wandered through the castle corridors, her footsteps muffled by her soft slippers. While she was allowed to be out she didn't fancy waking up the other occupants of the castle - while she couldn't be punished she knew that no one would be very happy. Careful about the noise she was making, she slowly meandered her way down to the Black Lake - using the spell the Professor McGonagall had taught her to got out of the heavy wooden doors to the castle.

Hermione looked up at the clear night sky and felt free. She made her way over to the edge of the water, over by the large tree at the opposite side of the lake. She was no longer worried about making a noise as she made her way over the pebbled ground - she was too far away from the castle for anybody to hear her now. Taking a seat on a rather large boulder, she looked up at the stars, twinkling from so far away. Despite her logical mind, the stars were the one thing that Hermione didn't like to study. While her astronomy lessons allowed her to identify many stars and to clarify their positions in the sky, she loathed trying to read the heavenly bodies in order to predict future events. Why should humans be allowed to know the secrets of the universe? Hermione preferred the stars to remain a mystery - something that humans could look upon and know that there would always be stars in the sky - something to give the Earth a magic touch and to bring out hope in someone. While none of her friends would believe her, she actually tried not to pay so much attention during her astronomy lessons.

A gentle breeze blew across the lake and Hermione shivered slightly from lack of adequate clothing, yet she remained gazing on the mystical secrets of the sky. She loved to just come outside at night and sit looking up at the stars. Somehow, she felt closer to nature and it allowed her an escape from the worry of humankind and the battle they were soon to be facing between good and evil. It was only when she heard a small scuffling sound a little way off did she snap her gaze from the sky and try to focus her eyes through the dark so that she could see a little way down the shoreline.

Trying desperately to look around her and wishing that she could see further, Hermione realised with a jolt that only one person could have hair that would stand out that much even through the pitch black of night. That platinum blond hair could only belong to one of two people and the elder was currently band from entering the Hogwarts grounds - this conclusion left only one option. Draco Malfoy was making his way across the pebbles and down the shoreline, heading right for where Hermione was perched on the edge of her rock.

Hermione's first instinct was to get up and move so that he wouldn't see her. While she wasn't afraid of him, she wasn't really in the mood to have a confrontation at almost three o'clock in the morning. She could not reprimand him as he was the Head Boy and had just as much right as she did to be out of bed at this hour. The Head Girl's second thought was that she should remain where she was and refuse to move, even if her asked her. She had been there first and it was her right to sit where she wanted. If she wanted to look at the stars at three in the morning then she was damn well going to! Her first thought won out. She made her way as silently as she could so that she was hidden behind the tree - the quicker Malfoy left the quicker she could get back to what she had been doing - wallowing in her insomnia.

Crouched out of sight behind the tree, Hermione peered around the edge of it until she could see the figure of the blonde-haired boy. To her great misfortune, he did not wander straight passed her spot but sat down on the exact boulder that she herself had been sitting on. Hermione could only look on and hope that he soon left. Nothing seemed to be going right for her, however, and the boy only wrapped his cloak further around him and looked up at the stars as she had been doing only minutes before. Had the girl been in any other position she would have just called it a night and made her way back to the castle. Unfortunately, if she moved now she realised that Malfoy would most likely hear her from where he was sitting, resulting in an even worse confrontation as it would look like she had been spying on him - which she most certainly wasn't!

As she sat behind the tree Hermione decided that the best plan would be to wait a few minutes to see what would happen: she didn't say it was the best plan but it was all she was left with. This, of course, meant remaining still and silent, crouched in the shadows behind his unmoving form. As the breeze blew across the lake and over her skin she wished she'd had the sense to bring her cloak with her.

Keeping an eye on Draco Malfoy was the perfect excuse to take her time observing his body: from the way his silky hair fell into his attractive, steel grey eyes, to the way his toned muscles rippled under his tight, thin clothing as he moved. Hermione was captivated. Not that she would ever admit it to anyone. She would never check out Malfoy's hot body. However, it was doing this very intense activity that was making Hermione's eyes tired.

_'Maybe i'll just shut them for a minute' _she thought as she propped herself against the tree for as much protection from the wind (and Malfoy's line of sight) as possible.

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Draco's thoughts, not to mention his characteristic star-gazing session, were interrupted by a soft, tranquil sound coming from behind him. At first he had put it down to the mind but then realised that it was coming in a regular pattern from one particular spot behind the tree he had been sitting in front of. Taking a chance, he decided to find out what was watching him - hoping that an animal had not decided to have a wander outside the forbidden forest. He pulled his wand from his pocket as he moved closer to the sound. He took a deep breath before jumping around the side of the tree in order to ambush whatever it was that had decided to stalk him.

When he didn't see or feel anything immediately, he lowered his wand slightly and waited for his eyes to distinguish the difference between the tree or anything else that may have been hiding. He was shocked as he looked down and saw a human figure slumped against the rough bark at the base of the trunk, yet he couldn't yet tell who it was. With a quick 'lumos' the area was doused in a bright light and he had to shield his eyes as they focused. If possible, the identity of the person shocked him even more. Hermione Granger was lying at his feet, now blinking in the bright light and looking as though he had just woken her up. He coughed to bring her attention to him. Her jaw dropped as she realised that she had been discovered - by the last person she had wanted to find her. She was screwed.

Malfoy's face took on its normal smirk as gaze on her contorted position.

"Now Granger...if you wanted to spy on me and see my body, surely there are better ways. We share a common room and yet this is what you've come up with? I'm shocked at someone with your intelligence..." Hermione didn't answer. They did share a common room, being the Head Boy and Girl. Yet he couldn't possibly know how close he was to the truth - that she had been stealing glances at him all year. Then she thought back on what he had said.

"You think I'm intelligent?" She managed to choke out. The boy in front of her turned a brilliant shade of red, standing out against his pale hair and ironically reminding her of Ron. It was his turn to be speechless.

"Y-y-yes...but that's not really the point it is?" He soon found his voice. "The question is, what were you doing spying on me in the middle of the night?"

"Well...I" Hermione paused, not knowing what to say. Looking up at his demanding face, she decided to tell the truth. Well, most of it. "I couldn't sleep so I came out to look at the stars - they seem to calm me down." She said, a blush now rising on her own cheeks.

"That may be so," he started, shocked that they had been doing the same thing, "but that does not explain why you were curled up behind the tree, watching me."

"I wasn't curled up behind a tree, watching you!" she snapped. "I was keeping out of your way, trying to avoid something like this while I waited for you to leave me in peace. I just fell asleep, that's all." She knew it sounded stupid now she said it but it had seemed like a good idea at the time.

Malfoy held her gaze for a few seconds before letting out a low chuckle.

"You're honestly telling me that that's what happened? You realise that the most I'd have done is sat beside you?" Hermione gave her own sarcastic laugh at this comment.

"Yeah, right."

"What? You don't think that I could actually be civil?" He gave her a questioning glace.

"Not in a million years!" she responded without hesitation. Draco's gaze swept over her face before his gaze caught her own.

"Seriously?" he asked, lowering himself to the floor looking slightly dejected.

"Well..." Once again, Hermione did not know what to say. Under normal cicumstances she would not have hesitated to insult him, as he had done to her so many times before. Yet somehow, she knew this was different. She realised that her answer meant a lot to him and that with one simple sentence everything could change.

"You're Draco Malfoy...you're the Slytherin Prince. Your not really known for you kindness towards humanity or, well, anything really. I'm actually shocked that you're still sitting here with me...Harry Potter's best friend and a mudblood to boot!" Draco flinched at her answer. Hermione noticed, her brow cocked in sudden confusion. A sigh left the Slytherin's lips before he answered.

"I may be a Malfoy by blood...but that's all it is. A name. A name I no longer want." He took a deep breath before continuing and Hermione knew that, were she to interrupt, whatever spell that had been cast would most likely break. "Ever since I was born I've been brought up to follow in my father's footsteps...but it is not who I am." He took another deep breath, glancing at her shocked face before looking down at the ground once more. "I was so glad when I came to Hogwarts, I thought I could escape my father's cruelty. Turns out I was wrong. He still has all his control over me when he threatens my mother." Hermione's hand flew to her mouth, her eyes wide. "And now I've been told that if I don't get the Dark Mark, he won't hesitate to kill her." The pain that had been rising inside of him suddenly reached breaking point and overflowed down his face as tears started to leak down his cheeks.

On instinct, Hermione's hand rose and rested on his shoulder, offering him silent support. When she realised what she had done she fully expected him to brush her off. Instead something even more unbelievable happened. Draco Malfoy..._the _Draco Malfoy, completely collapsed against her as his body shook with horrendous sobs. She wrapped her arms tightly around his shaking frame as all the pain he had bottled up threatened to overcome him.

Neither realised how long they sat their but when Draco finally lifted his head from where it had been resting against her shoulder, the barriers and been dropped and Hermione could see he the real personality of Draco Malfoy shining through his still-moist eyes. She raised a hand to his face, gently wiping his remaining tears away with the pad of her thumb. Before either of them knew what had happened, his lips had captured hers in a passionate duel. His tongue ran across her bottom lip - seeking entrance which she willingly gave. All her dreams were coming true...his lips on hers...his hands on her body. In that moment, she didn't care what the future held for any of them. All she knew was his lips and tongue and hands, caressing her body.

When the couple broke away from each other both were panting hard. Without a word Draco stood and held a hand out to help Hermione off the floor. As they walked in silence back to their common room, Draco's hand found hers, their fingers intertwining as natural as the sunrise. Hermione knew that no words were needed...at least not right then.

In that one moment, they had each other and that was all that was needed.

AN/ Just a little plot bunny that came to me one night as insomnia took me over...again. Why is it I can never sleep?! After lying in bed for a few hours, I decided that I might as well write it! Review and tell me what you think...please?

Spellwrite x


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